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Part Ninety-Eight: African-Americans in the Nineteenth Century
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Part Ninety-Eight: African-Americans in the Nineteenth Century
Black and White Relations:
The aftermath of the National War left a lot of land in the former Confederacy vacant. After many rich planters had fled the United States after the war to Veracruz, Brazil, and other countries in Ibero-America, the land they had owned was bought up by the federal government during the military government of the Confederate states. The Fremont administration passed the Freedmen Land Act in 1871, which authorized the sale of these Reclaimed Lands to blacks who had been freed from slavery[1]. Over the next five years, the land, mostly in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, was sold to blacks. For a short time the newly landed blacks prospered on the Reclaimed Land. However, many white landowners in the South felt threatened by the prosperity of the freedmen. Democratic governments in rural counties of the Deep South passed laws restricting black ownership of land, and neighboring landowners often used threats and violence to force freedmen to sell their plots.
While during the Fremont and Lee administrations, many of the forced removals of blacks from their lands were blocked by Republican state courts, the protection of freedmen land ownership was neglected after the election of Winfield Scott Hancock onward. The Hancock administration ignored many cases of freedmen being forced off their land. Because of this, some freedmen left the rural parts of the Southern states for cities, especially the new manufacturing centers along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. The urbanization of Southern black society was expanded by the infestation of the boll weevil in the South in the late 19th century and the Silver Depression[2]. By the end of the century, significant black communities arose in cities like Memphis, New Orleans, Cairo, and Birmingham.
During the Silver Depression, the increase in black communities in many of these cities worsened race relations among the poorer populations of the cities, especially along the Mississippi River. The first notable incident of racial violence in the cities was in Memphis, Chickasaw in 1889. When the Vanderbilt Steamship company hired blacks to run steamboats across the river, a group of whites massed at the Memphis dockyards and burned two of the riverboats at the docks. The situation escalated into a riot and fighting between whites and blacks last for two days in the blocks surrounding the Chickasaw State Capitol[3]. There were further large race riots in Richmond in 1895, Memphis in 1902, and Montgomery in 1905.
Blacks in Politics and Culture:
While the decades after the National War saw hardship for some blacks in the South, the era also saw a flourishing of black participation in culture and politics. During the late 19th century, several African-Americans were elected to political office at the state level as well as in Congress. The first black to be elected to the House of Representative and the Senate was Hiram Rhodes of Mississippi. Rhodes served as Congressman from 1871 to 1875 and was elected to the Senate for one term in 1874. Later, Benjamin William Arnett of Ohio became the first black man to represent Congress from a northern state when he was elected as a Democrat to the House in 1882. Arnett forged a friendship with future president William McKinley who helped Arnett gain influence. Another notable black politician of the late 19th century was Antonio Maceo Grajales, who was elected Representative and Senator from Cuba during the turn of the century.
Around the turn of the 20th century, African-American culture also experienced a rise in popularity and influence. Matanzas and New Orleans already had a thriving African cultural legacy as centers of black culture. The revival and spread of the cabildos[4] in Matanzas and other cities in Cuba in the late 19th century helped spread Afro-Cuban musical styles such as the son, changui, rumba, and comparsa. As Cuba became a popular destination for travelers from the Northeast, cabildos soon opened up in New York, Brooklyn, and other cities. At the same time, freedmen and creoles in New Orleans and other cities spread the influence of mainland African music around the country, particularly Yazoo blues[5] and ragtime. In Southern coastal cities such as Jacksonville and Pensacola, frequently these two styles mixed and led to the development of clave music[6], which became widely popular in the early 20th century. One of the most influential clave artists was Ferdinand Morton[7], who often took the rhythms of Cuban clave music and used it in his pieces.
African-Americans around the turn of the century also started gaining notoriety in literary fields as well as music. The establishment of black focused universities in the South after the National War helped educate newly freed slaves. Many of these, such as Mississippi Delta University in Vicksburg and Attucks University in Birmingham, were initially agricultural schools to teach freedmen how to better manage their new lands. However, they soon developed into full-fledged African-American institutions. One of the alumni of Attucks University was Scott Joplin, who later became a wealthy landowner and a successful North Carolina businessman. These universities produced a number of African-American writers who catalogued the experience of freedmen and others' experiences before and after the National War. Along with these non-fiction works, African-American poetry also flourished. Blacks in the South often wrote poems based on working chants from slavery or of life on the Mississippi River. African-American poetry at this time was also not just in English. Juan Gualberto Gomez[8] wrote poetry in both Spanish and English in Cuba, while Alphonse Picou wrote in French and a local Creole dialect in New Orleans.
[1] Based on the abandoned 40 Acres and a Mule idea.
[2] History keeps stealing what I think are original ideas.
This is essentially what led to the Great Migration in the 1930s and 1940s in OTL.
[3] The Chickasaw State Capitol is located at the OTL Shelby County Courthouse, and was built after the Great Fire of 1871 burned down the courthouse.
[4] Cabildos were social clubs for Africans of different cultural groups in Cuba in the 18th century, but had declined by the early 19th century. ITTL the term is revived as music clubs. One of the oldest jazz clubs in New York City ITTL is the Cabildo Lucumi, named after the Spanish term for the Yoruba people.
[5] TTL's term for Delta blues.
[6] Clave is the term for jazz music, which ITTL has a bigger and earlier Latin influence.
[7] You may know him by his OTL nickname, Jelly Roll Morton.
[8] Gomez was an OTL politician and journalist who was a leader during Cuba's independence fight and spoke out against American imperialism in Cuba during the early 1900s.
Part Ninety-Eight: African-Americans in the Nineteenth Century
Black and White Relations:
The aftermath of the National War left a lot of land in the former Confederacy vacant. After many rich planters had fled the United States after the war to Veracruz, Brazil, and other countries in Ibero-America, the land they had owned was bought up by the federal government during the military government of the Confederate states. The Fremont administration passed the Freedmen Land Act in 1871, which authorized the sale of these Reclaimed Lands to blacks who had been freed from slavery[1]. Over the next five years, the land, mostly in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, was sold to blacks. For a short time the newly landed blacks prospered on the Reclaimed Land. However, many white landowners in the South felt threatened by the prosperity of the freedmen. Democratic governments in rural counties of the Deep South passed laws restricting black ownership of land, and neighboring landowners often used threats and violence to force freedmen to sell their plots.
While during the Fremont and Lee administrations, many of the forced removals of blacks from their lands were blocked by Republican state courts, the protection of freedmen land ownership was neglected after the election of Winfield Scott Hancock onward. The Hancock administration ignored many cases of freedmen being forced off their land. Because of this, some freedmen left the rural parts of the Southern states for cities, especially the new manufacturing centers along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. The urbanization of Southern black society was expanded by the infestation of the boll weevil in the South in the late 19th century and the Silver Depression[2]. By the end of the century, significant black communities arose in cities like Memphis, New Orleans, Cairo, and Birmingham.
During the Silver Depression, the increase in black communities in many of these cities worsened race relations among the poorer populations of the cities, especially along the Mississippi River. The first notable incident of racial violence in the cities was in Memphis, Chickasaw in 1889. When the Vanderbilt Steamship company hired blacks to run steamboats across the river, a group of whites massed at the Memphis dockyards and burned two of the riverboats at the docks. The situation escalated into a riot and fighting between whites and blacks last for two days in the blocks surrounding the Chickasaw State Capitol[3]. There were further large race riots in Richmond in 1895, Memphis in 1902, and Montgomery in 1905.
Blacks in Politics and Culture:
While the decades after the National War saw hardship for some blacks in the South, the era also saw a flourishing of black participation in culture and politics. During the late 19th century, several African-Americans were elected to political office at the state level as well as in Congress. The first black to be elected to the House of Representative and the Senate was Hiram Rhodes of Mississippi. Rhodes served as Congressman from 1871 to 1875 and was elected to the Senate for one term in 1874. Later, Benjamin William Arnett of Ohio became the first black man to represent Congress from a northern state when he was elected as a Democrat to the House in 1882. Arnett forged a friendship with future president William McKinley who helped Arnett gain influence. Another notable black politician of the late 19th century was Antonio Maceo Grajales, who was elected Representative and Senator from Cuba during the turn of the century.
Around the turn of the 20th century, African-American culture also experienced a rise in popularity and influence. Matanzas and New Orleans already had a thriving African cultural legacy as centers of black culture. The revival and spread of the cabildos[4] in Matanzas and other cities in Cuba in the late 19th century helped spread Afro-Cuban musical styles such as the son, changui, rumba, and comparsa. As Cuba became a popular destination for travelers from the Northeast, cabildos soon opened up in New York, Brooklyn, and other cities. At the same time, freedmen and creoles in New Orleans and other cities spread the influence of mainland African music around the country, particularly Yazoo blues[5] and ragtime. In Southern coastal cities such as Jacksonville and Pensacola, frequently these two styles mixed and led to the development of clave music[6], which became widely popular in the early 20th century. One of the most influential clave artists was Ferdinand Morton[7], who often took the rhythms of Cuban clave music and used it in his pieces.
African-Americans around the turn of the century also started gaining notoriety in literary fields as well as music. The establishment of black focused universities in the South after the National War helped educate newly freed slaves. Many of these, such as Mississippi Delta University in Vicksburg and Attucks University in Birmingham, were initially agricultural schools to teach freedmen how to better manage their new lands. However, they soon developed into full-fledged African-American institutions. One of the alumni of Attucks University was Scott Joplin, who later became a wealthy landowner and a successful North Carolina businessman. These universities produced a number of African-American writers who catalogued the experience of freedmen and others' experiences before and after the National War. Along with these non-fiction works, African-American poetry also flourished. Blacks in the South often wrote poems based on working chants from slavery or of life on the Mississippi River. African-American poetry at this time was also not just in English. Juan Gualberto Gomez[8] wrote poetry in both Spanish and English in Cuba, while Alphonse Picou wrote in French and a local Creole dialect in New Orleans.
[1] Based on the abandoned 40 Acres and a Mule idea.
[2] History keeps stealing what I think are original ideas.
This is essentially what led to the Great Migration in the 1930s and 1940s in OTL.[3] The Chickasaw State Capitol is located at the OTL Shelby County Courthouse, and was built after the Great Fire of 1871 burned down the courthouse.
[4] Cabildos were social clubs for Africans of different cultural groups in Cuba in the 18th century, but had declined by the early 19th century. ITTL the term is revived as music clubs. One of the oldest jazz clubs in New York City ITTL is the Cabildo Lucumi, named after the Spanish term for the Yoruba people.
[5] TTL's term for Delta blues.
[6] Clave is the term for jazz music, which ITTL has a bigger and earlier Latin influence.
[7] You may know him by his OTL nickname, Jelly Roll Morton.
[8] Gomez was an OTL politician and journalist who was a leader during Cuba's independence fight and spoke out against American imperialism in Cuba during the early 1900s.
- wilcoxchar
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